Fiction - Historical

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Ackroyd, PeterMILTON IN AMERICASinclair-Stevenson 1996 1856196968 / 9781856196963 First Edition Hardcover Fine in Near Fine dust jacket Sinclair-Stevenson 1st edition. HC/DJ - fine/near fine. Very nice condition. Hardcover is clean and unmarked. Jacket has light scuffing and a little wear at upper corners, not clipped. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 288 pages; When Peter Ackroyd, one of Britain's undisputed literary masters, writes a new novel, it is a literary event. With his last novel, The Trial of Elizabeth Cree, "as gripping and ingenious a murder mystery as you could hope to come across," in the words of the San Francisco Chronicle, he reached a whole new level of critical and popular success. Now, with his trademark blending of historical fact and fictive fancy, Ackroyd has placed the towering poet of Paradise Lost in the new Eden that is colonial America. John Milton, aging, blind, fleeing the restoration of English monarchy and all the vain trappings that go with it ("misrule" in his estimation) , comes to New England, where he is adopted by a community of fellow puritans as their leader. With his enormous powers of intellect, his command of language, and the awe the townspeople hold him in, Milton takes on absolute power. Insisting on strict and merciless application of puritan justice, he soon becomes, in his attempt at regaining paradise, as much a tyrant as the despots from whom he and his comrades have sought refuge, more brutal than the "savage" native Americans. As always, Ackroyd has crafted a thoroughly enjoyable novel that entertains while raising provocative questions--this time about America's founding myths. With a resurgence of interest in the puritans (in the movie adaptations of The Scarlet Letter and the forthcoming The Crucible) , Milton in America is particularly relevant. It is also entirely absorbing--in short, vintage Ackroyd. [450-noto]
Price:
7.50 USD

Aiken, JoanJANE FAIRFAX Jane Austen's Emma, through Another's EyesSt. Martin's 1991 0312058845 / 9780312058845 First Edition; First Printing Hardcover Very Good+ in Very Good+ dust jacket HC/DJ - VG+. Cover has slight edgewear, light soiling outer edge of pages. Pages clean and intact, , no markings, not price clipped. Publishers Weekly: "Once again Aiken ( Mansfield Revisited ) playfully recreates the fictional world of Jane Austen by appropriating her characters: Jane Fairfax is the friend and rival of the heroine of Emma . Here, headstrong, self-important Emma Woodhouse is pushed from center stage as the limelight falls on the childhood and maturation of her foil. Orphaned Jane is brought up by her shabby-genteel aunt and grandmother in Highbury, near the Woodhouse family estate. Jane joins Emma in her music lessons, where Jane's talent and diligence invite a jealousy in Emma, which is partly overcome after the death of her mother leaves a disconsolate Emma receptive to too-good-to-be-true Jane's sympathy. Then an old family friend whisks Jane off to London in order to educate her alongside his daughters, so that she might eventually support herself as a governess. A grown-up Jane returns to Highbury secretly engaged to Frank Churchill, whose aunt refuses to die and leave him the money and freedom to marry as he chooses. While Aiken lacks Austen's incomparable style and wit, her light, diverting novel captures the flavor, if not the substance, of Austen's milieu. " (400noto); 8vo
Price:
9.95 USD

Ames, Robert AndrewTHE CHEECHAKO A Novel of the Alaska-Yukon Gold RushLothrop, Lee & Shepard 1958 First Edition Hardcover Good in Good dust jacket Scarce title. Ex-library, with outside stamp, a few inside stamps & partially removed back pocket. Light edge wear, light soiling outer edge of pages and some scuffing/scratching of plastic jacket cover. One chip from rear has been repaired with white paper. Interior pages tight, tape marks inside cover and pocket residue inside back cover. Light soiling within book & several earmarks. 242 pages. A good tight copy, albeit with a few stains. Young adult reading. Everyone wondered what young Rory was doing on the Yukon trail. He wasn't hunting nuggets or gold dust - that was sure. Or any kind of "pay dirt". His was a more important quest. His adventures took him through fierce fighting, over mountain passes and shooting the rapids in a homemade boat. By the time the ice broke the following spring, Rory earned the right to be called a "sourdough", a real '98er, instead of that jeering tenderfoot name "Cheechako".....; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Price:
25.00 USD

Arbiter, PetroniusSATYRICALondon The Folio Society 2003 B000VDYXJA Hardcover Fine+ in Fine dust jacket Folio Society 2003. Like new hardcover, with brown slipcase. Hardcover is clean and unmarked, feels unread. Slipcase has light scuffing, otherwise fine. A New translation by Frederic Raphael. Colour & b/w illustrations by Neil Packer. Seven full-page colour plates, including frontispiece. ; 4to 11" - 13" tall; Description: Encolpius, a soldier of fortune, despiser of pedantry, lecherous and contrary, and the beautiful Giton, who lives off his charms, are invited to a gargantuan banquet hosted by the prodigal, pompous, newly rich Trimalchio. When the feast turns into a riot, the two, joined by the down-on-his-luck poet Eumolpus, leave town quickly to avoid trouble. So begins the Satyrica, a bizarre odyssey through the carnivalesque landscape of Nero's empire. (*Note: Due to heavy weight, extra postage will be required. Please contact us if you'd like a quote).
Price:
31.50 USD

Asch, SholomTHREE CITIESG. P. Putnam's Sons 1934 1135800529 / 9781135800529 First Edition; Eighth Printing Hardcover Near Fine in Good dust jacket Putnam's 1934 printing of 1933 original (8th printing). Translated by Edwin & Willa Muir. HC/DJ - near fine/good minus. Book cover is clean, with light edge/corner bumping, light soiling outer edge of pages. Interior clean and intact, with no markings. Light age tanning to pages and inside covers. Dustjacket has numerous small edge tears and chips, age tanning and light soiling to rear. Price is not clipped but all four corners of jacket are clipped on an angle." One rarely comes across a book to which one can with conviction apply the epithet "great", but if greatness in fiction implies the creation of vital, pulsating, lifelike characters in surroundings as vivid as those of our normal life, but much more unforgettable, then one can have no hesitation in applying it to this stupendous novel. On a gigantic canvas the author has depicted the environment and mental reactions of a people encrusted in that mass of corruption, tyranny, and spurious glitter thatwas Czarist Russia...." (985) ; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall; 899 pages; (*Note - due to heavy weight, extra postwill may required)
Price:
26.50 USD

Aylmer, JanetJulia and the Master of Morancourt A NovelNY Harpercollins 2009 0061672955 / 9780061672958 First Edition Softcover New New book, small remainder marking bottom edge of pages. ; From the author of Darcy's Story comes a novel of romance, family tragedy, and intrigue in a volatile England at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Julia Maitland had an idyllic childhood with her brother and younger sisters on her family's estate in rural Derbyshire. Upon reaching marriageable age, she looked forward to everything that her new status could bring: the excitements of her first “season” in society, a choice of handsome suitors, and—hopefully—a blissful future with a man she cherishes. But Julia's prospects take a disastrous turn with the sudden and unbearably tragic death of her soldier brother in the war against Napoleon and the loss of her father's investments. Within the span of a few weeks, she finds herself in London, then fashionable Bath, and ultimately chasing smugglers through the countryside in coastal Dorset. Yet through all the drama and turmoil she keeps alive her hopes for happiness and a love passionate, powerful, and true. (190os, 10/12)
Price:
7.50 USD

Badami, Anita RauTAMARIND MEM Signed by AuthorToronto Viking Press 1996 First Edition Softcover Very Good Signed by AuthorSigned by author on title page. Trade SC with French flaps wraps. Light wear to corners & edges, moreso to bottom spine end , a little sticker residue on front, light soiling outer edge of pages, light scuffing to cover, pages untrimmed, 266 pages.. Interior clean & tight. A Beautiful and brilliant portrait of two generations of women. Set in India’s railway colonies, this is the story of Kamini and her mother Saroja, nicknamed Tamarind Mem due to her sour tongue. While in Canada beginning her graduate studies, Kamini receives a postcard from her mother saying she has sold their home and is travelling through India. Both are forced into the past to confront their dreams and losses and to explore the love that binds mothers and daughters everywhere. (*Shipping will be reduced to most locations). ; 8vo; Signed by Author
Price:
16.00 USD

Bainbridge, BerylEVERY MAN FOR HIMSELFCarroll & Graf Publishers 1996 0786703490 / 9780786703494 First Edition Hardcover Near Fine in Fine dust jacket; Excellent, near new condition, only very light wear overall. Interior clean & tight, except for a gift plate attached to half title page. 224 pages. From Publishers Weekly: Bainbridge, whose The Birthday Boys was an unforgettable rendition of Scott's fatal Antarctic expedition, has turned to another Edwardian tragedy for her new novel: the sinking of the Titanic. As Bainbridge admirers might expect, it is not the kind of version that would make a spectacular movie; rather, it is a meticulously observed account that almost offhandedly convinces the reader that this is exactly what it must have been like aboard the doomed liner.... ; 8vo
Price:
9.05 USD

Bausch, RobertON THE WAY HOMEBard/Avon 1983 0380631318 / 9780380631315 First Edition Softcover Very Good Paperback has light edge/corner wear to covers, creasing to spine, small tear on rear. Pages clean, tight and unmarked. ; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall; "...Imagine the elation of having your dead son brought back to life. That is what Michael Sumner's parents experience when, one year after he's reported killed in action in Vietnam, they are told their son is alive and has escaped from a cadre of Viet Cong. But reunited with his family in their new Florida home, Michael has become a stranger to them, and soon living with him becomes more difficult than having him dead. Attempting to break into his suffering and get him back, fearful he may turn to violence, his parents suspect the worst when a young woman who has befriended Michael abruptly disappears. " [130-osl]
Price:
3.95 USD

Beaven, DerekNEWTON'S NIECEFaber & Faber 1994 0571171303 / 9780571171309 First Edition Hardcover Near Fine in Very Good+ dust jacket HC/DJ - near fine/VG. First edition. Hardcover fine other than a couple of bumps/indents to front cover. Two very small stains on front cover. Dustjacket has light edgewear and a little crinkling to edges. Pages are clean and tight, feels unread. 393 pages. Author's first novel. "From the disturbing goings-on in a South London mental hospital, the narrator of this daring and ambitious fist novel hurtles back through the past, to the character of Kit, Isaac Newton's niece. What unfolds is a story of conflicting male and female universes at the beginning of the eighteenth century, a time when Newton and others were claiming the meaning of the world for themselves....." ; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Price:
10.95 USD

Benchley, NathanielONLY EARTH AND SKY LAST FOREVERHarper & Row 1971 006020494X / 9780060204945 First Edition Hardcover Good in Good dust jacket Ex-library book - still in good condition. Mylar cover and usual ex-lib type of markings. Pages are clean and tight, occasional earmark or light wrinkling. Light soiling, couple small ink markings to outer edge of pages. Hardcover has light edgewear. Jacket sleeve and jacket itself have some scuffing. . Benchley's story shows how the tragic Battle of the Little Bighorn changed the world for Dark Elk, a young man caught up in the destiny of his people. (452noto) ; 8vo
Price:
6.00 USD

Benzoni, JulietteMARIANNE AND THE LORDS OF THE EASTLondon Pan Books 1978 0330252437 / 9780330252430 First Edition Softcover Very Good+ Illustrated by Rose, John Pan Books 1978 edition. Clean, tight copy. Cover has light wear to edges and corners, interior clean and intact, light age tanning to pages and covers. 285 pages. Marianne is sent on a mission to the court of the Sultana of the Ottoman Empire to help secure the Sultana's aid for the day that the grand army marches on Moscow. Her mission is at the request of none other than Napoleon himself and takes Marianne through palaces and prisons, from Constantinople to the shores of Russia itself... (195os? ) ; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall
Price:
8.00 USD

Berliner, Janet and George GuthbidgeCHILD OF THE JOURNEYWhite Wolf Publishing 1996 156504942X / 9781565049420 Softcover Near Fine Excellent condition - only light wear overall, clean, no markings. ; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall; Picking up where Child of the Light left off, Child of the Journey begins as the Nazi tides sweeps to power in Germany. Jewish visionary Solomon Freund desperately seeks to rejoin his bloved Miriam. His quest leads him from the precarious refuge of Holland back into the deathtrap of Berlin to the horrors of Sachenhausen concentration camp, and finally to Madagascar. .. (250-noto)
Price:
4.25 USD

Berridge, ElizabethSING ME WHO YOU ARELondon Heinemann 1967 0434068012 / 9780434068012 First Edition; First Printing Hardcover Near Fine in Good dust jacket HC/DJ - near fine/good. Hardcover is clean, with slight edgewear, slight soiling to edges and outer edge of pages. Pages clean and intact. Dustjacket has several small edge tears/chips, as well as a larger tear to front corner, which has been repaired with tape. This area is fairly wrinkled. Light creasing to upper jacket, light soiling/scuffing, small peel where sticker was removed, not price clipped. Early novel from this well loved author. ; 8vo; 214 pages; An overladen car grinds up a rutted lane in low gear, a luggage rack on top, boxes tied here and there and a cat looking out of the window. Harriet Cooper has arrived at Uplands to take possession of the converted bus left to her by her wealthy aunt Esther....Elizabeth Berridge's ear for dialogue and her eye for detail are unerring, and the it is the sureness of her touch which makes the reading of her novels such a rewarding and satisfying experience. (400)
Price:
35.00 USD

Bohumil HrabelTotal Fears - Letters to DubenkaPrague Twisted Spoon Press 1998 8090217192 / 9788090217195 First Edition Softcover New New book, french flaps, no markings. Translated from the Czech. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; "As Czechoslovakia's communist regime expired in 1989, Hrabal began to write after a long literary silence. He called his short individual texts lyrical reportage in the form of letters addressed to Dubenka (April Gifford) , a visiting American student who became the muse of his later years. In these letters, spanning the period from 1989 to 1992, Hrabal gives us a memoir of humorous, moving, free association. " [265-notosl]
Price:
12.95 USD

Bonner, CindyRIGHT FROM WRONG Advance Uncorrected ProofNC Algonquin Books 1999 156512104X / 9781565121041 First Edition Softcover Very Good+ Pages clean, tight and unmarked. Cover has very light wear to corners, small peeled area on front where sticker was removed, slight soiling. "Born near the turn of the century, cousins Sunny DeLony and Gill Dailey were good friends as youngsters and something closer as they became teens. But admonitions from their mothers of sin and incest could keep them apart only so long. In her fourth novel of the DeLony family of McDade, TX, Bonner (The Passion of Dellie O'Barr, LJ 1/96) takes on the next generation, featuring Sunny (the beloved daughter of Dane DeLony) , her first cousin on her mother's side, and their love that wouldn't die...." [400-noto]; 8vo; 336 pages
Price:
9.05 USD

Bourne, PeterFALL OF THE EAGLELondon Hutchinson 1967 B002MGZT74 First Edition Hardcover Very Good in Very Good dust jacket Ex-library book, but still in very good condition - mylar cover and usual ex-lib type markings. Only library marking to outside of book is a green dot on spine. Some tape markings inside covers and light soiling to outer edge of pages. A little light soiling was seen in the interior pages but they are clean and tight for the most part. An exciting historical novel set in Paris at the time of Napoleonic wars, with spies, agent-provocateurs, and the legendary French Detective, Vidocq. Peter Bourne is the pseudonym of Graham Montague Jeffries. (400-noto) ; 8vo
Price:
12.95 USD

Boyle, Harry J.THE LUCK OF THE IRISH A Canadian FableToronto Macmillan 1975 0770513166 / 9780770513160 First Edition Hardcover Very Good in Good+ dust jacket Clean HC, some soiling/spotting to outer edge of pages, spine and corner bumping, interior pages are clean & tight. Jacket has moderate edgewear and several small tears/chips, & one longer tear to rear (about 2.5") , light soiling, light scuffing, age tanning to edges. Written after his very successful "The Great Canadian Novel", Harry Boyle returns to the rural setting that made his earlier books about the fictional village of Clover so popular. The Luck of the Irish is a warm, humorous story told in the traditional round-about style that always has time to explore an interesting side issue. And in the Irish-Canadian farming community where this book is set there are enough remarkable characters per acre to provide plenty of hilarious side trips. (*Shipping will be reduced to some locations); 8vo
Price:
14.50 USD